Running Trains on the Hanley Spur

                                  

I've published lots of posts on modelling the Kingston industrial waterfront's structures and scenery, but this layout is, at its heart, an operating model railway. I've published very little on how it operates, and now that a reliable and tested operations pattern is in place, let's look at how this wondrously wistful look at CN and CP in 1970 gets cars where they're going. All car movements are documented on car cards. This same system has lasted through four layout iterations when my modelled locales were: Winnipeg, Vancouver, Vermont and now Kingston.

CN industry list, roughly listed from north to south on the prototype CN Hanley Spur:

 CN OPERATIONS  -  OUTER STATION YARD 

For CN, operations begin at the Outer Station yard. This is where cars destined to Kingston industries or outbound cars are marshalled. The photos (top and above) show a CN roadswitcher working the yard. Once the Outer Station was no longer the home of a local locomotive, blocks were lifted and set out at Queens by passing trains instead, and a switcher from Belleville performed the same yard function there. If I need more cars or more room in the yard, cars are taken to and from the yard to two interchange tracks at 'Queens'. I generally switch three different sectors in rotation, gathering the car cards from the yard file, then visiting the various sectors profiled below.

                                           CN OPERATIONS - HANLEY SPUR SOUTH END

My Hanley Spur only reaches as far as the four tracks of my Wellington Street yard. The CN team track and freight shed are still served, and one spur (centre track with gondola car - above) nominally continues across Ontario Street to the Kingston Shipyards and Canadian Locomotive Co. This job usually handles 5 to 10 cars.

CN OPERATIONS - ALONG RIDEAU STREET

Serving industries from River to Cataraqui and North Streets: Queen City Oil (above), National Grocers, the Whig-Standard newsprint warehouse and Imperial Oil limestone warehouse. Imperial has tank car unloading as well as a boxcar spot for other oil products. This job can handle 3-5 cars.

CN OPERATIONS - OUTER STATION INDUSTRIES

This job doesn't require a caboose, as it switches industries lining the CN yard. Two industries are also served by CP: Frontenac Floor & Wall Tile and Presland Iron & Steel. As well, CN Express and non-modelled industry cars like company service, Northern Telecom and DuPont cars are pulled or spotted.

CP OPERATIONS

CP industry list, roughly listed from north to south on the prototype CP Kingston Subdivision:

Unlike CN, CP has to bring in and tote out all its cars to and from Smiths Falls. There are actually more CP industries than CN industries on my layout, so it's not possible to switch them all in one run. So, like CN, they're switched in rotation. Four to six industries that were least-recently switched get service. Each run can be 6-10 cars.The siding becomes a runaround track, where Kingston-bound cars are set-out and outbound cars are marshalled for the return journey. This train then waits until one or two CN runs are made. It runs to the 'Queens' interchange [nominally from Smiths Falls!] to pick up its inbound cars and the next run goes to work.

Nightly operating sessions run from 1830-1930. (That's 24-hour clock time, not years!) It's all 1970, nominaly! That takes in the CBS News, CNN's Out Front with Erin Burnett, then get upstairs for Jeopardy! If work needs to be done on the layout, that is interspersed with operations. Messes are always cleaned up to allow operations to resume, though!